Saturday, we, the Tri-Valley Writers Club, will be handing out awards to the winners of our high school students’ writing contest. I was on the short story committee and we selected first, second, and third winners. Sunday, I’m invited to join the writers whose stories were selected to be in Las Positas College’s annual anthology. […]
Quote by Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead said, “Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
What We Learn From Writing Our Novels
Julianna Baggott said, “…each novel teaches me how to write it.” I agree with her. I have three novels in my computer files. From the first one, I learned the characters limited my reading audience and how to write emotions into scenes. The second one, I learned to love rewriting and polishing it that I […]
Finished Judging a High School Short Story Contest
A fellow writer and I judged entries to our writing club’s High School Short Story Contest. I was impressed by the writers’ creativity and chosen topics. Organ donation, bullying, suicide, and goals for a better society were some of the issues woven into fiction. We had to compromise in deciding who should win first, second, […]
Poetry Contest Entries Due Date Extended
I’ve extended the date for entries to the Poetry Contest about Choices. See the Menu Bar above for requirements and post your poem in the reply after the last entry. The new date is June 1st.
Redwood Writers Conference in Santa Rosa
I attended the Redwood Writers Conference on Saturday with Julie Royce, author of PILZ. We enjoyed hearing Ransom Stephens and Dana Gioia. I met Brooke Warner and her marketing and publishing packages are inspiring. The organizing team added the “First Page Critique” session. Two literary agents gave their reactions to first pages submitted by conference […]
Editing Quote by Mark Twain
Mark Twain said, “A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out.” Often we have to cut what doesn’t serve the story and it might be our favorite line, paragraph, scene, or chapter.